One of your friends talk about her problem finding a good office manager. Your palms begin to sweat and you have to rub them dry on your trousers or skirt. Then she says that it is close to impossible to find an experienced secretary who can help her write good memos or proper business letters. Goodness, she will be glad to get someone who spells correctly. Is this the moment to tell her that you are thinking of providing secretarial services from home?

A little voice at the back of your mind say "Wait! Wait! You don't have a proper business plan, or a business card or even a recommendation letter. You have nothing to show her." In other words, you have just persuaded yourself that the conversation can wait. It would have been all right if you had taken action immediately and get all those things you think you need, but no, because each of these also have their list of hurdles. So over the course of the following months, you will continue to say the same thing: "Wait. This is not the right time because I don't have ----".

Time can heal most pain and even fix bad relationships, but the opposite is true about opportunities. That is the reason why outgoing people have a high rate of success because they don't wait for the best time since they have a tendency to assert themselves at every opportunity. The thing is, they have the same "I have not done ---" and "I don't have ---" problems. But instead of focusing on that, they focus on what they have and what they can contribute.

The reason that this method works is because not all businesses dwell on 'structural criteria' alone. In fact, if you focus on your qualification, they will see your qualification, and if you focus on your experience, they will visualize on how it will fit into their corporate needs. Genius works too, but make sure you can be relied on to produce good quality work consistently.

I know that some of you reading this will be nodding your head in agreement and saying "Yep, that's right. That is exactly why I can't tell people about my product, service, creations etc." Then you will put this article down, and fall back into the same old habit of waiting for the perfect time. But ask yourself, do you even know what the 'perfect time' looks like, or where it will happen, or even how it will happen? I know exactly why I used to say the same thing to myself. The 'perfect time' was a very good phrase to use as an excuse to cover my fear of stepping forward, and the moment I realized what I was doing, I change my phrase to 'good enough'. And in addition to that, I also define what is 'good enough' for me, so that way I don't have an excuse not to start sending out query e-mails and letters.

If you also use the 'perfect time' as your objective, and you have been dreaming for years about it, then you might be suffering from lack of self-esteem. Sadly, most of us have low self-esteem because we have been put down all our lives by family, teachers, colleagues, friends and even strangers. There will always be something wrong with us, something lacking and imperfect. This kind of brow beating has made us afraid of rejection, of being avoided and of being labeled. But the fact of the matter is, people have a right to say ‘no' and labels are nothing more than forms of social profiling. I remember travelling to New Zealand once with an aunt and a great-aunt. Immigration was polite to me, customs tried to help me, and airport security even smiled when I teased their dog. But the big bold-headed man behind us, who was traveling alone, was not so lucky. He was stopped at every turn, his bag thoroughly examined by customs and sniffed by the dog that wagged its tail at me. So my advice is, when you want to venture out on your own whether it is for a job, an education or even a business, don't go to the people who have always let you down for emotional support. They have treated you like a loser for years, and they are not going to change the moment they see your work. In fact, they will try their utmost to find fault with it, because they ‘know' you a certain way and they don't want to spend time redefining what they ‘know' about you. Instead find other like-minded people, and if you are not the type who likes to go out, join an online social network site or forum. Learn from the members, draw strength from them and grow to your full potential.

Read and listen as much as you can. There are dozens of writers out there who motivate and empower their readers. Some are spiritual (Roberth H. Schuller), emotional (Tony Robbins) and even technical (Edward de Bono), but the one thing in common they all have are the practical tips they give on how to be motivated. Read all three if you must, I did. Go to the library or bookstore, and read as much as you can get your hands on. Believe me, when your self-esteem is low, one book is not enough. And reading a book once is not enough either.

Above all, don't give up. Every step you take will bring you closer to your goal. The worst kind of failure is the one that comes with an opportunity you did not claim because you talked yourself into believing that the timing was not perfect.

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